92 Percent of Air Passengers Demand In-Flight Broadband

A new survey of over 9,000 aircraft passengers from 27 countries, which was conducted by GfK on behalf of Inmarsat, has revealed that 92% of respondents would like to access on-board Internet connectivity but only if it’s of a good quality (60% might not connect to a poor service).

The study, which was run between August 2015 and March 2016, also found that 54% would prefer Internet connectivity over in-flight meals, accessing in-flight entertainment services or experiencing duty free shopping; although it would be interesting to know if that statistic remained the same for long-haul flights where hunger could quickly become more of an issue.

However not all in-flight Internet services are created equal and we have seen plenty which suffer from high latency (almost impossible to avoid due to the use of Satellite capacity), slow speeds and or frequent disconnections. In keeping with that some 75% of respondents said that reliability was more of a concern to them than service speed (19%), although the two are often linked.

Other Survey Highlights

* 83% of passengers prefer to choose an airline that offers in-flight broadband;

* 78% of passengers expect to see onboard connectivity replace in-flight entertainment systems within the next five to ten years;

* 34% of passengers bring three mobile devices onboard a flight and are willing to pay to connect their phone, tablet or laptop computer to in-flight broadband;

* In terms of willingness to pay for broadband services on a flight of any length:

– In Europe – 69% of passengers are prepared to pay;
– In Asia Pacific – 67% of passengers are prepared to pay; and
– In Latin America – 64% of passengers are prepared to pay.

At this point it should be said that Inmarsat, which just so happens to sell related services to airlines, has somewhat of a vested interest in the outcome of this survey. Sadly the study did not attempt to ask how much people would be willing to pay, which might have produced some interesting results because adding such on-board connectivity to an aircraft is far from cheap.

We also note that passengers were equally willing to pay to log-in whether they are flying short distances (64%), medium haul (68%) or long haul (69%).

Leo Mondale, President of Inmarsat Aviation, said:

“Demand for broadband in the sky has reached such unprecedented levels around the world that airlines, as well as those in the business aviation and aircraft lessor markets, need to meet passenger expectations or risk losing out to their competitors.

Our survey clearly demonstrates that passengers demand a highly reliable service. Quality is the essential ingredient that determines whether or not passengers choose to go online during flights. Airlines are therefore under pressure to select the right partner to support them in delivering a reliable and cost effective service.”

Recently the International Airlines Group (IAG) and GoGo, which specialises in providing related Internet services, agreed a major deal to add on-board WiFi connectivity to 118 British Airways, 4 Aer Lingus (Boeing 757) and up to 15 Iberia long-haul aircraft (here); sharing 70Mbps+ between all passengers. Many other airlines have also done something similar.

GoGo are of course a value added reseller for Global Xpress® (GX) in the Commercial Air Transport market, which is the network run by Inmarsat. GoGo charges around £20 for a 24 hour one-day pass on international flights and if you’re a regular traveller then the monthly passes cost around £55 (note: the cheaper prices on GoGo’s front page are for USA / domestic flights).

The downside to all this is that getting any kind of sleep on a flight could become even more difficult, what with all the extra tapping and bright screens (on-board screens are usually tinted to limit light bleeding to the sides, but the same can’t be said of tablets and smartphones). At least keeping up with work will become easier, if not cheaper.